Saturday, April 5, 2008

This past week has been interesting for me mainly for one reason. I have been able to talk on the phone with relatives that I have never met before, which has been wonderful. But, the reasons I have been talking with them aren't so great.

Some members of our family suffer from a hereditary genetic disorder which creates tumors in our body called pheochromocytomas. I am one of those family members. And, in talking with these others who are being affected by this disorder also, I have been prompted to begin a blog.

My main reason behind doing this is to have a central location where my family (and maybe others) can learn more about what I have learned about these "pheos", and hopefully, together, we can educate ourselves and, especially, the up and coming generations on some of the issues they may be up against.

I don't want this to be all medical, there needs to be some fun, so I'm hoping I can accomplish 2 things with this blog. First, to show the life and times of the Shaw family for those who may care (as crazy as they can be) and, second, to have an open forum where our family can help each other through some of the tough times associated with "pheos."

If you are interested in just viewing the "pheo" site, you can click on the link at the left, that says My Pheo 411. Or you can go directly to the site itself, at www.pheo411.blogspot.com.